Thursday
Nights
October
13, 2022
Introduction
Over these last four weeks, we’ve done a bit of an introduction to Matthew as both a book and
a person. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector who decided to
follow Jesus.
We looked at the magnificent,
complex, and beautiful genealogy of Jesus that Matthew laid out that stretched
from Abraham to
David to Babylon and then to Jesus.
Then we looked at the birth and early years of Jesus, how God sent an angel to
Joseph to let him know that his wife was carrying a very special baby, how the Magi visited the
family two years later, and how Joseph took his family, fled to Egypt, and then
returned to Nazareth.
Last week we jumped forward thirty years and was introduced to the wild preacher in the
desert, John the Baptizer.
We saw last week that the core of John’s message was, “Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.”
This week we’ll look at a little more of John’s message.
3:7-12 John’s Message
:7 But when he saw many
of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood
of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
:7 many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees
Pharisees
– these were the “orthodox” or conservative Jews.
They worked
hard to obey the Law as well as the “traditions” of Judaism.
They believed
in miracles.
They believed
in the work of the Holy Spirit.
They believed
in angels.
They believed
in the resurrection from the dead.
They believed
that the entire Old Testament was the Word of God.
In some ways, they were a lot like us. Except that most of them rejected
Jesus. They were religious on the outside, but not on the inside.
Not all Pharisees were the same.
In Jesus’ day,
there were seven schools of Pharisees.
What made them different? It had to do with how
they ranked the commandments.
To a Jew who valued God’s commandments, they felt that the commandments
were both doable, and yet they often were in conflict with
each other, soooooo…
The
question of which commandment to obey at each moment depended upon how you
ranked them. Let me explain…
To find out where
a Pharisee stood, you would ask them, “What is the greatest commandment? (does
that sound familiar?, look at Matt. 22)
They
all would say that to Love the Lord Your God was the first commandment.
It’s the second they would disagree on.
At
one end of the spectrum was the house of “Shammai”.
Shammai
felt the second greatest commandment was the Sabbath because by not working on
Sabbath we honor God.
If your neighbor’s life was in danger, but it was
Saturday, he was out of luck getting any help from you because you didn’t want
to break the Sabbath.
The
other end of the spectrum was the house of “Hillel”.
They
felt the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor.
If your neighbor’s life was in danger, but it was
Saturday, you’d gladly break the Sabbath because loving your neighbor was more
important than keeping the Sabbath.
If you think that sounds like Jesus, you are correct. Jesus was closer to Hillel, but He went even
farther than Hillel in some other ways, like how He defined “neighbor” (but
that’s another study).
Sadducees
– These were the liberals among Judaism.
The priests
were mainly made up of Sadducees.
They only
believed the first five books (the Torah) to be inspired.
They didn’t
believe in miracles, angels, or the resurrection
… and that’s why they were “sad-you-see”
:7 Brood of
vipers!
This is not what you say to make
friends
He’s rebuking these
fellows for the poison they infect people with.
He’s not sure they are sincere
in coming out to his baptisms, he thinks they are there to twist things and cause trouble.
:8 Therefore
bear fruits worthy of repentance,
:9 and do not think to
say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you
that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from
these stones.
:8 bear fruits
worthy of repentance
Lesson
Prove it
Some people are
good at convincing you with their words. They tell you they’ve changed, and we
often believe them. It’s not always a
bad thing that we believe people.
Yet how many
times have we heard of an abusive spouse that says they are “sorry”, and the
next week they are back hurting those in their family.
The Bible tells us that repentance is more than words or emotions – repentance requires
action.
The Corinthian church had some serious problems such as a man sleeping with
his step-mom.
When Paul heard about the problems and that the church didn’t do anything
about it, he wrote a pretty strong rebuke to the church, even delivering the
transgressor “to Satan” so they would get serious about their sin.
(1Corinthians 5)
When we get to Paul’s second letter to the
Corinthians, we find that Paul’s letter had produced the correct response. They had responded to Paul’s letter with
“repentance”. Paul writes back…
(2 Corinthians 7:8–11 NLT)
—8 I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was
sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. 9 Now I am
glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to
repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to
have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. 10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us
to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no
regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance,
results in spiritual death. 11 Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness,
such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to
see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you
have done everything necessary to make things right.
When someone professes to follow Jesus, or they tell you they are sorry for
their actions, that’s good, that’s a start.
But it is proper to tell them that they need to follow through and bring forth the “fruits”
of repentance, to see an actual change.
If you are someone who feels “sorry” for your actions, know that you also
need to change your actual behavior for others to take you serious.
:9 We have
Abraham as our father
The Jews were proud of their heritage.
Being descendants of Abraham was
a big thing. He is called the “father of
the faith”.
But just being a descendant of
Abraham wasn’t good enough.
John tells them that God
could turn stones into children of Abraham if He wanted to.
God is looking for a life that
is lived like Abraham’s, a life of faith in God.
Jesus had a similar discussion
with these Jews…
(John 8:39–40 NKJV) —39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said
to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which
I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
:10 And even
now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
:10 the ax is laid
to the root
John is warning
these men that as leaders, as roots, they are facing God’s judgement.
If they don’t turn their lives around, they may be cut down to make way for
trees that will bear good fruit.
And they will
be thrown into the fire.
Jesus used the same kind of language,
(John 15:6 NKJV) If anyone
does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they
gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
The Jews had a
concept of hell. They even believed that
the Gentiles were created to stoke the fires of hell.
The last verse in the book of Isaiah says,
(Isaiah 66:24 NKJV) “And they
shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, And their fire
is not quenched.
They
shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
:11 I indeed
baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
:11 baptize you
with water
We saw last
week that the word “baptize” means to “immerse”.
John now
contrasts two kinds of baptisms.
John’s baptism
dealt with water and repentance.
Jesus’ baptism
dealt with the Spirit and fire.
:11 mightier than I
John’s ministry was to prepare the way of the Lord.
He’s letting
people know that as much as they appreciate him, there is one
coming who is much greater than he is.
The line about
“sandals” means that John doesn’t consider himself worthy to even be a servant
of this coming King.
:11 He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit
One of the issues I wrestled with 40 years ago had to do with this concept
of the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”
When I was in high school, 1972, I was invited to a
Pentecostal potluck and prayer meeting by a girlfriend. I had no clue what to expect. After dinner, we all stood in a circle and
one fellow went around the circle one by one and prayed for each person. When he got to me, he quietly told me some
things about myself that only God would know.
Then as he was about to put his hand on my forehead to pray, I fell over
backward and began to speak in tongues.
I had no idea what was going on.
Yet from that moment on, my Christian life took off. I became known as one of the “Jesus freaks”
on my high school campus. My best friend
and I often debated our agnostic English teacher. At my Baptist church we had a bit of a
revival going on.
I eventually found myself called into the
ministry. I became a youth pastor at my
Baptist church. I went through college
and then on into seminary.
In seminary I faced a problem. Some
of the professors taught that the Holy Spirit doesn’t work today like He did
2,000 years ago.
They taught that when a person receives Christ they are “baptized” in the
Spirit at the same time and there were no supernatural gifts.
I struggled with the Holy Spirit.
It was after seminary that I decided to do my own homework and try to
figure out this “baptism of the Holy Spirit”.
I started by looking up all the times the Bible
talked about the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” and found out that this
verse was where it all started.
ALL FOUR gospels share this same principle, that Jesus would baptize us in
the Holy Spirit.
And then as I worked my way through the book of Acts and began to write
down all the times that this
phenomena occurred. I found out
it was called various things: the gift of the Spirit, the Spirit coming “upon”,
and the filling of
the Spirit.
I found that the first
time someone was baptized with the Spirit took place in Acts 2, on the day of
Pentecost, when the already believing disciples were all filled with the Holy
Spirit.
I found out that in Acts 4, the same guys baptized in the Spirit in Acts 2
are AGAIN filled with the Spirit.
I found out that in Acts 8, Philip had been preaching in Samaria, and many
believed. But it wasn’t until after
the apostles Peter and John arrived that people were baptized in the Spirit.
It happens again in Acts 10 at the house of Cornelius when Gentiles believe
and were filled with the Spirit all at the same time.
And then you get to the most interesting passage when Paul makes his way to
Ephesus.
(Acts 19:1–6 NKJV) —1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having
passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to
them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said
to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said to them, “Into what then
were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance,
saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him,
that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the
Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon
them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
Did you see that bit about “John’s baptism”?
John baptized with water unto repentance. But he also spoke of someone else who was
coming and these fellows didn’t know who it was.
When Paul tells them about Jesus, they believe, they are
baptized in water…
THEN Paul lays hands on them and the Spirit came upon
them.
Lesson
Are you filled?
Let me ask you. Are you like these fellows in Ephesus before they met Paul?
Or maybe you’ve come to believe in Jesus. Maybe you’ve been baptized in
water.
But are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Have you yielded your life to Him?
Let today be the day when you turn to Jesus and say, “Fill me with your
Spirit. Empower me. Overflow my life.”
If you ask, He will do it.
And then ask again tomorrow. And the
next day. And the next. Why?
Because even though God will “fill” us, we seem to leak and we need
re-filling.
:11 … and fire
We might be tempted
to think that this “fire” might refer to the “tongues of fire” that rested on
the apostles on the day of Pentecost the first time they were “filled” (Acts
2), but I’m not
sure that’s what John meant.
Keep reading…
:12 His
winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out
His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up
the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
:12 His
winnowing fan is in His hand
The way the ancients
processed wheat was to first harvest
the grain, then take the grain to the threshing floor.
Wheat kernels have a
“skin” on them, like that red skin on a peanut.
Before the wheat can be
ground into flour, that skin or “chaff” needs to be removed from the kernel.
That happens by crushing the
wheat a bit and then
tossing it up into the air with the “fan” where the breeze will blow away the
lighter chaff and the edible grains of wheat fall to the floor.
Here’s a modern version of
this “winnowing” process:
Video: Sifting Winnowing
Do you see the
chaff being blown away from the grain?
The chaff can
then be swept up and burnt up in the fire while the edible grain is collected
and ground into flour.
So when John talks about Jesus baptizing with the
Spirit and with fire, I
think the fire may be talking about the coming judgement.
Don’t be chaff. Open your heart to Jesus.
3:13-17 Jesus is baptized
:13 Then Jesus came from
Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
:14 And John tried to
prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
:13 Jesus came from
Galilee
So Matthew moves on to Jesus’ story when He’s about thirty years
old.
He’s been living in up north in Nazareth in Galilee, probably working
with Joseph for some of that time.
Jesus is an unknown to most people outside of Nazareth at
this time.
Jesus shows up down
south at the place where John has been baptizing at the Jordan River.
prevent – diakoluo
– to hinder, prevent
John says…
:14 I need to
be baptized by You
I think it’s safe to say that John
recognizes his cousin Jesus, but I’m not sure that John is fully aware of all
that’s happening at this moment.
John’s main reason for baptizing
people was to get them ready for the Messiah, but it seems that a secondary reason John has been
baptizing is so that the Messiah would be revealed to the nation. John said,
(John 1:31 NKJV) I did not know Him; but that He
should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
So it seems that when Jesus comes to be baptized, John realizes that Jesus
is the Messiah, and so does the people watching.
John has already described his
own position in comparison to the Messiah …
(Matthew 3:11 NKJV) …but He who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry…
So John thinks that perhaps Jesus should be
baptizing him.
Matthew is the only gospel
writer to include this discussion between Jesus and John about John’s
reluctance to baptize Jesus.
:15 But Jesus
answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is
fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
it
is fitting – prepo – to stand
out, to be conspicuous, to be eminent; to be becoming, seemly, fit
:15 to fulfill
all righteousness
John is reluctant to baptize
Jesus until Jesus makes this statement.
What does it mean? There are more than a few theories, and because I’m
not partial to just one of them, I’ll share the ones I’ve found.
1. Jesus was setting an example
Some would look at this
as Jesus setting an example for us to follow because Jesus does want us to be
baptized as well.
But keep in mind here – Jesus is
NOT “repenting” from sin. He’s the
sinless one.
In a way we could see this as
Jesus “identifying” with sinners, showing that He relates to us.
2. Jesus is painting a picture
Christian baptism paints a
picture beyond that of repentance.
It is a picture of the death (being put down into
the water) and resurrection
of Jesus (raised back up)
Paul wrote,
(Romans 6:4 NKJV) Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Perhaps Jesus is
beginning to paint the picture of what His life would be all about: Death and
Resurrection.
3. Jesus is stepping onto the stage
We’ve already seen that John has said that one of
the reasons he was baptizing was to allow the Messiah
to be revealed.
Jesus’ baptism will certainly
draw back the curtains and show the crowd that Jesus is amazing.
4. Semikhah
Perhaps Jesus is showing John
and the crowd that He has this mysterious thing that we will unpack in a
minute.
:16 When He had
been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the
heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and alighting upon Him.
:16 the Spirit
of God descending like a dove
The Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus and
there is a physical manifestation that looked like a dove descending upon
Jesus.
Jesus wasn’t the only one that
saw it, so did John. The apostle John
recorded,
(John 1:32–34 NKJV) —32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent
me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending,
and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have
seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Why would the Spirit take
the form of a dove?
(Note:
Luke 3:22 says it came down “bodily” like a dove, with the form of a dove)
I can’t help but think about the
first time the word “dove” is used in the Bible. It’s after God flooded the
earth and Noah was trying to find out if it was safe to leave the ark.
(Genesis 8:11 NKJV) Then the dove came to him in the
evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and
Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.
The dove as
well as the olive branch have become signs of hope, of peace, of God’s promise
and blessing.
Some teach that Jesus was
not “the Christ” until the Holy Spirit came upon Him.
These folks tend to think that
Jesus was not God in human flesh, but was just a man
and He doesn’t become something special until the Spirit comes upon Him.
The Bible clearly teaches
that Jesus was always God, and that at His conception He took on human flesh.
(John 1:1–2 NKJV) —1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
(Philippians 2:6–7 NLT) —6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as
something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine
privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human
being…
:17 And
suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
:17 suddenly a voice came from heaven
Could you imagine being in that crowd when they hear God speak from heaven,
declaring that Jesus is God’s Son?
It reminds me
of another time God spoke and the people heard.
It was at Mount Sinai,
(Exodus 19:19 NKJV) And when the
blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and
louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.
That was the beginning of the “Old Covenant” with Moses.
The voice at Jesus’ baptism is about the “New Covenant”
through Jesus.
This will not be the only time during Jesus’ life that God will
speak up like this.
When Jesus took
Peter, James, and John up onto a mountain, Moses and Elijah appeared, and God
spoke …
(Matthew 17:5 NKJV) While he was still speaking, behold,
a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud,
saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
One more side note – do you see the Trinity in these verses?
Some people have this goofy notion that God is only one person
but who changes. In the Old Testament He
is the Father. In the New Testament He
turns into the Son. Then at the birth of
the church He turns into the Spirit. This is called “modalism”. And it’s flat out wrong.
Here we see…
The Son getting baptized.
The Holy Spirit coming down.
The Father speaks.
All three are present at the same time at this event.
:17 This is My
beloved Son
This is God’s
testimony about Jesus.
I want to talk about a Hebrew term that I believe comes into play in our
passage tonight.
Semikhah
The Hebrew word
means to “lay upon” or “lean upon” and can carry the idea of laying hands on
someone or something (like a sacrifice)
Today, the word
semikhah is used for Jewish ordination.
Some feel this
idea traces back to Moses who “laid hands” on Joshua, giving Joshua his
authority before he died.
But
in Jesus’ day it simply meant “authority”.
In the practice
of the first century, the recognition of someone with this “authority” required
three individuals: Two who already had “semikhah”,
and the third being
the person who was being recognized as having semikhah.
Let me give a little disclaimer – much of what I’m going to share comes
from Ray Vander Laan, and as I’ve been looking at this topic online, I’m
finding that there are differing opinions about semikhah in the Jewish
community, though most of the differing opinions are on how the word is used
today, not 2,000 years ago.
We’ll come back to semikhah in a minute
In Jesus’ day,
the term “rabbi” had not yet become an official title, but it was used.
“Rabbi” means “great” or “honored” person.
In Jesus’ day there were no college degrees or any sense of “ordination” as
we think of it in the Christian church – things that might make you a “rabbi”.
A person was called “rabbi” because of their godliness, wisdom, and knowledge of the Torah
(the first five books of the Bible).
The word “rabbi” is used 17 times in the New Testament, and most of them
are directed towards Jesus.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their love of the term “rabbi”
(Matthew 23:6–8 NKJV) —6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the
synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and
to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do
not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all
brethren.
In Jesus’ day, there were two types of rabbis.
The first were
called “Torah Teachers”.
In the New
Testament the word used for them is “scribes”.
These guys were
master of the Torah.
They had the entire Torah memorized.
They were master teachers and could use parables and stories to teach the
Torah.
They could find different ways to apply the text to your life.
But they could
not stray outside of what was considered the proper interpretation of the text.
They could quote other teachers to support their points,
but they couldn’t make up new doctrine.
The second were
Rabbis with semikhah.
There were only a handful of these fellows.
These were Torah Teachers who had moved up.
They
not only knew the entire Torah by heart, but they knew the entire Old Testament
(Tanach) by heart. Because of
this, they were generally much older fellows.
Many of these
men were also healers. They also cast
out demons and performed miracles.
To the Jews in
Jesus’ day, semikhah meant “authority”, and specifically the authority
to teach new ideas.
These fellows were so close to God, brilliant, wise, and
knowledgeable about the text that God had given them new insights that no one
had ever thought of.
Famous rabbis with semikhah in the first century
include Hillel and a fellow named Gamaliel, Paul’s teacher.
These Rabbis
would teach like this:
“It is written … You’ve heard that this means … but I say to you,
it means this…”
Does that sound like anyone you know? Jesus said these kinds of things throughout
the Sermon on the Mount …
(Matthew 5:21–22 NKJV) —21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You
shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to
his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You
fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
Five
times in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus follows this pattern.
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 7:28–29 NKJV) —28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people
were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority,
and not as the scribes. (or, “Torah teachers”)
Have you ever noticed how the Jews
challenged Jesus’ “authority”?
(Matthew 21:23 NKJV) Now when He came into the temple,
the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was
teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”
Note: The New Testament was written in Greek, so if
you are looking for “semikhah” in the original text, you won’t find it. Semikhah is a Hebrew concept that was
understood in Jesus’ day, but it is translated into Greek (exousia).
Jesus acted as if
He had semikhah, and they wanted to know who “laid hands”
on Him and validated this authority.
It’s interesting to follow Jesus’
response to this question in Matthew 21, but let me just say that His answer
involved the “authority” (semikhah) of John the Baptist…
Remember how semikhah was recognized of validated?
Did Jesus have genuine semikhah or “authority”?
Who were the two that gave their
testimony about Him? (I’ve already given you hints…)
John
the Baptist testified about Jesus. John
the apostle recorded that the Baptizer not only called Jesus the “lamb of God”,
but …
(John 1:34 NKJV) And I have
seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Who was the other who testified
about Jesus?
God
did. Right here at Jesus’ baptism. (and again at the Transfiguration)
“This is My Beloved Son…”
(note: Look at John 5 – Jesus gives “four” that gave
testimony about Him)
This is why I wonder if part of
Jesus’ explanation of “fulfilling all righteousness” involved this declaration
of His semikhah. Who
knows?